Mentalism is a simulation of mental “super powers” demonstrated to the public. Among others it usually includes mind reading, hypnosis, prediction, clairvoyance, mind control, psychokinesis. Usually these abilities are being demonstrated as a performing act. In other words a mentalist can be called a mental magician.

Mentalism accumulates all sort of mentalism tricks into one category. This category can also be called mental magic. Magic in this case is a performing art.

Is mentalism real?

In this question people usually mean a certain type of super powers like telepathy, clairvoyance, mind reading, etc. And when they are asking if it´s real, they mean if a mentalist can read minds or move objects for real. I personally don´t have any proof of any of this being real. So I can´t confirm that. However, I don´t have any hard counter arguments to state that these things are not real. I prefer to leave this to your judgement so you can decide yourself if any of this is real or not.

If we are speaking about mentalism as an art of entertainment, then oh yes, it is absolutely real! I have to say that sometimes it looks so real that you unintentionally start thinking that the guy on the stage, the mentalist, has super powers for real! You will see yourself later in this article. So keep reading!

How Does Mentalism Work?

All depends on the type of mentalism trick that is being performed.

Some of the tricks demand some props from the arsenal of professional magician like invisible thread. These tricks can be quite easy to perform for beginners since all they have to do is to work on the performing itself.

Other tricks like mind reading can be one of the most difficult ones to demonstrate. For this a mentalist usually has to be exceptionally good in reading peoples body language and non-verbal communication. Basically you have to be able to read another person as an open book.

There are of course some basic mind reading tricks where you can trick the spectator to think that you are reading their mind. When you intentionally were manipulating his mind to lead their thoughts into the right direction. A great example of such trick is Triangle in a circle. A mentalist chooses the geometric shapes in advance and then forces the spectator to think of exactly those shapes that he chose.

From this you can conclude that mind manipulation is also a part of a skill set of a successful mentalist.

To sum it up, mentalism tricks usually work due to one (or few) of these points:

Props. The audience either does not see any props being used or the props are not what they look like (a fake pen or ink is an example)

Preparation. Quite often, few things have to be prepared before executing the trick. The audience cannot know about it.

For example, a mentalist can ask a spectator a question which has 3 possibilities of answers. He puts down on a paper all 3 possible answers. Seals each of them in a separate envelope. Then puts each envelope into a separate pocket of his jacket. All this is done in advance, behind the stage, no one sees that.Then on the stage he asks the question. Listens to the answer of the spectator and takes out the envelopes that has the same answer.

To the audience it looks like the mentalist knew what the spectator was about to say in advance, sort of predicted and sealed his answer before. But in reality he prepared all three possible options and pulled the one that was correct.

Psychology. By this I mean mainly the ability to manipulate and to read body language and psycho-emotional reactions of a person.

Manipulation. For many people the word “manipulation” carries a negative vibe. It feels that manipulation means making another person do or think something against their will. Well, at some point it is so. However, we are talking about mentalism – the art of entertainment – people expect you to manipulate them. They want you to show them that you “can” read their minds and predict their answers. There is absolutely no reason to worry about it.

The Most Famous and Remarkable Mentalists of All Time

Believe it or not, but mentalists exist centuries! Some of them were performing to the audience, others doing street mental magic here and there. There were also few historical figures who were using their mentalism skills outside entertainment industry and were trusted by important leaders and political figures.

I have to say, that apart from these outstanding mentalists that are mentioned below, there are many others worth attention. It would take a massive part of this article if I tried to include all of them. So I decided to limit it to just a few – the most significant in my personal opinion.

Alexander (Claude Alexander Conlin, 1880 – 1954), also know as C. Alexander, Alexander the Crystal Seer and Alexander the Man Who Knows. He specializes in mentalism and psychic readings. In addition to performing, he also worked privately for clients giving readings and was the author for few books.

Theodore “Theo” Annemann (Theodore John Squire, 1907 – 1942), also known as Ted Annemann. Annemann was an american professional mentalist and one of the greatest legends of all times in the industry. He is well known for introducing and refining many of the mentalism routines which continue to be taken as standard among mental magicians.

Banachek (Steven Shaw, born in 1960) is a living legend of mentalism. He is well known for his books (Psychological Subtleties 2, among others) and his input into mentalism development. He has invented various magic and mentalism effects, including the Penn and Teller bullet catch and the original “buried alive” stunt.

Tony Corinda (Thomas William Simspon, 1930 – 2010) was an English mentalist, magic dealer and magic inventor. He is the author of the mentalism classic read “Thirteen Steps to Mentalism”.

Uri Geller (Uri Geller, born in 1946) is a controversial Israeli performer of mentalism effects, illusionist, television personality and self-proclaimed psychic. He claims demonstrate his genuine paranormal abilities. However, sceptics believe that to achieve his results Geller uses magicians techniques.

Derren Brown (Derren Victor Brown, born 1971) is one of the best contemporary professional mentalists, illusionists and showmen. He is also author of various books for magicians as well as the general public. Unlike some others, Brown does not claim to possess any supernatural powers. Some of his acts are designed to expose the methods of those who do. The vast majority of his performances and effects are based purely on psychology.

In my personal opinion, if you want to see what mentalism is in action, Derren Brown is the one you should check out first. Here is one of the short examples of his performance:

How to Become a Mentalist?

It’s time to speak about the most interesting part. If you are this far in reading this article, there is a reason for that. And the reason most probably is – you consciously or secretly want to become a mentalist but don´t know how. Let´s clear this out!

I have to say straight away that becoming a mentalist take a tremendous amount of patience and persistance. It takes countless hours of practice and even more trials and errors. But hey, cheer up! The good thing is that the journey itself brings a lot of fun into your life. Trust me on this.

The most awkward and difficult part is only the first few performances of your very first mentalism trick. As in anything else that you start learning. All you have to do is to accept the fact that you are a beginner and let yourself be one. Let yourself do mistakes and fail as many times as it will take you to start seeing first success.

Where to start?

The best way to start your mentalism journey is to choose a simple mentalism trick and start practicing it.

First you have to understand the concept of it.

Second you have to split the trick into smaller steps. Then you have to take each step and fully understand it in its full depth. You have to catch and remember every single detail of it.

Third you have to learn it by heart as if it was the lyrics of your favourite song. You can actually start practicing before you learn it by heart. This way you will remember it naturally with little to no effort. You can use a cheat sheet to make it easier in the beginning.

It’s practice time!

Now it´s time to start practicing your first mentalism trick.

First I recommend you to practice it alone.

When you start feeling comfortable doing so, do it in front of the mirror. It sounds easy, but believe me it is not! While doing that, it is wise imagining that there is audience in front of you.

You have to reach the level of feeling so comfortable performing the trick alone and in front of the mirror, that you would find yourself a little bit bored doing so. You may even want to start improvising, changing lines or get creative about your movements.

What you have to do now is think of your friends and family members and choose those who are most likely to support you no matter what in any situation. Those who are almost never criticise you. Those who you trust the most. Those who are positive and like having fun. Got it? Good. These are the first ones who will be tricked and witness your mentalism abilities.

Why them? Although you may feel that you are ready to nail it in front of 10 thousand audience. And it may be true. It is still better to get your first in-person performance experience with someone nice. With someone who is not going to call you loser if something goes wrong. With someone who understands you and supports you in any situation. It is easier to get discouraged that you may think.

After you did it for few times with friends and family members, you can move on to your new friends. Or friends of your friends. People within your social circle. People you don’t that well.

Another way is to meet new friends using your “super powers”! When you are in the park or at the party – use your new skill to blow some minds away and make new friends!

Are You Serious About Becoming a Mentalist?

If your answer is yes, then keep reading..

You probably got the idea that mentalism is one of the most complicated types of magic. Of course you can learn some simple tricks here and there. And use them in the close company and social events for fun. That is one of the ways to go about it.

However you can’t really call yourself a mentalist at that point just yet, can you?

If it is your goal – to impress friends and new people that you meet – it’s totally fine! In this case instead of going deep into mentalism, I would suggest you to try to learn some card or coin tricks to enrich your repertoire.

However, if you are serious about becoming a mentalist, then you need a systematic approach. You need a guide, tutorial, lessons and explanations of all the subtleties that no one ever is going to reveal just like that.

What I recommend you in this case is Master Mentalism Course by Ryan Clark. It’s a professionally written complete guide to mentalism having both beginning and advanced mentalists in mind. The course itself contains 269 written pages of detailed guide on mind reading, hypnosis, levitation and much more. It is pretty much all you need to become a successful mentalist.

In addition to the main guide you will also take the part of the closed Mesmerize Member Club, that has incredible video collection of party tricks, interviews with legendary mentalists, and a lot more cool stuff.

I heard they started limiting the access to their course due to exceptionally high demand lately. So you better check yourself if it is still available following this link >> mastermentalism.com
Here you can find a detailed review of Master Mentalism Course:

What about the mentalism books?

Indeed, there are few fundamental and classic reads on mentalism. In addition to that, there are few contemporary books. And also those, that cover psychology and body language aspect. However, it is easy to get lost among those texts. They are not systematic. And if you are a beginner, you can easily get overwhelmed by the amount of information that you don’t need at this point.

What I do recommend, is to keep mentalism books for later stages of your mentalism journey. They will be of great use for you at some point, that’s for sure! They cover some great details and explanation of the concepts. You will know when is the right moment to switch to them. So, in conclusion, I personally would start with Master Mentalism, and use books a bit later as an addition.

Mentalism is not as simple and easy as it may seem. It is one of the ancient ways to trick people pretending you have super powers. It is also one of the most fascinating yet sometimes even disturbing performing arts. Mentalism is not as straightforward as sleight of hands magic tricks with cards or coins. It is way deeper and complex. For this reason there are many books written about mentalism. However, only few of them build the core of this area of magic. To make it easier for you and saving your time, I made the list of the best mentalism books out there on the market. Here it is.

Mentalism Book #1 “13 steps to Mentalism” by Tony Corinda

Among magicians and mentalists this book is considered as the bible of mentalism. If I do not mention about this book which is recommended by many, it will be unfair to the writer as well the budding mentalists. “13 steps to Mentalism” was written by Tony Corinda a famous English mentalist in 1961. He had originally written this book in 13 different booklets describing 13 different techniques of mentalism.

For example, the booklets explained about aspects like predictions, mind reading, card tricks, mnemonics etc. Later this was made into one book as a complete guide for the mentalists. In this book Tony Corinda explains about the illusions and tricks (both simple and complex) with the actions to be carried out behind the scene. The book is recommended for anyone who is older than 12 years. The book is beneficial for a beginner and professional alike. You may find this book a little old fashioned which makes it difficult to read because it was written in 1961. If you are an aspiring mentalist, this book is a must. You will understand why it is considered among the best mentalism books. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon click here.

Mentalism Book #2 “Practical Mental Magic” by Theodore Annemann

This book by Theodore Annemann explains the most important tricks in a mentalist’s repertoire. A magician’s success is in amazing the audience with their tricks and this book guides you through that. The author – one of the greatest mentalists of all times – has included 12 major categories of mentalism. The major categories included are as follows:

Effects with Billets and Pellets

Publicity Effects

Envelope Necromancy

Miracle Slate Routines

Dead or Alive

Money Mentalism

Thought Foretold

Book Tests

Mentalism with Cards

Miscellaneous Mental Masterpieces

Blindfold Reading

Psychic Codes

Theodore Annemann, who is known for contributing the most to this branch of entertainment through his vast experience, has made it easy for you to understand the know-hows of the mentalist tricks. The author has covered 200 mentalism tricks in 336 pages with all the instructions needed to perform them successfully. Do not hesitate to get this book thinking that it was written in 1944. All the tricks and tips in this book are still valid and of great help for the aspiring magicians and mentalists. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon click here.

Mentalism Book #3 “Naked Mentalism” by Jon Thompson (vol. 1, 2 and 3)

This book is the essence of the mentalism tricks that do not require any props or requisite. In fact, this book I was dreaming about for many years. You see, my favourite tricks are the ones I can perform with no preparation, with no physical component: no handling, no gaffs, nothing to write down, peek or burn. Nothing. Just like walking up to a person and perform. And I always wanted to have a great collection of such mental tricks. And finally here it is!

“Naked Mentalism” by Jon Thompson is one of the most underrated books on mentalism of all time. This read got “Amazon Editors’ Favourite Book of the Year” award. The amount of powerful and workable information in one place is astounding. One of the high points of the book is Jon’s “Naked Book Test”. This thing is absolutely amazing! It involves a person merely thinking of a word from whatever (magazine, book, newspaper, letter, etc.) and you name it! That simple!

The book splits into four distinct sections. First is a full exploration of the hows and whys of psychological forces. Section two is the infamous Naked Book Test. Section three is an advance on Brown’s Perfect Coin Prediction with a coin. The final section gives some miscellaneous bits and bobs. There’s also a glossary giving he full statistical model for the book test, and a large amount of data for the psychological force section, sorted in useful ways to help you develop your own more easily. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon click here.

The next book titled Psychological Subtleties, published in three volumes take the mentalism to the next level. Steven Shaw known widely by the stage name Banachek is the author of this book. After the experiment conducted by Washington University, he has been famous in the area of mentalism. He is the first performer to be sought-after by corporates and institutions for stage performances. The peculiarity of his book is that most of the techniques and tricks mentioned here are invented or developed by him.

In the first volume, the author has explained about the natural responses from a human brain that can be put into use while performing on stage.

In the second volume, the author has compiled complete and complicated routines using the tips that he explained in volume 1. Whereas the first volume was not about routines, the second volume contains well-compiled routines from famous mentalists and magicians like Peter Arcane, Leonardo Silverio, and Patrick Kuffs (17 mentalists in total).

The third volume is a continuation of volume 2 with more routines from Banachek and other 27 brightest minds from all around the world. Some of the routines presented in the third volume are creating the Perfect Situation, Optical illusions when applied to psychic effects, Banachek’s favorite ploys, and predicting headlines of newspaper (the one from Banachek himself). Be assured that you are buying a complete reference book of mentalism with ready-made routines and one of the best mentalism books available on the market. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon, click here.

Mentalism Book #5 “Mind, Myth & Magick” by T. A. Waters

Next, let us look into an 800-page book with full of mentalism tricks. The author of Mind, Myth & Magick is T.A Waters and is known as one of the knowledgeable professionals in mentalism. In the 80s itself, he had published booklets which were sold to a select audience. Mind, Myth & Magick contains 200 effects of Bizarre magick and mind reading. The author has also included the extensive re-examination of other topics like billet work, fortunetelling, symbol tests, and psychometry.

This book is about T.A Waters’ life with mentalism. The author has explained the mentalism in a way that as you read on you can see how much progress he had made in this area. Like “13 steps to mentalism”, Mind, Myth & Magick is also a dated edition and is out of print now. You will get some copies from amazon.com; however, the price for used copy is around $200 and is expected to rise. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon, click here.

Mentalism Book #6 “The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading” by Ian Rowland

The last book in the review of best mentalism books is “The full facts book of Cold Reading” written by Ian Rowland. Before getting into the description of the book, let me explain what “Cold Reading” is. In simple words, you can say it is the art of reading someone’s mind and talking to strangers as if you have known them for years. He is the only person US hired from outside America to give a lecture to FBI.

The book is divided into two sections. The first section gives an introduction to the “Cold Reading” and the misconceptions about it. In the second section, the author has elaborated on how the mind reading or cold reading works. This book is more about the mind reading technique in mentalism. To get the book or check the reviews on Amazon click here.

BONUS: Master Mentalism

If the mentioned above mentalism books are not enough for you and you want something special and unique, check out Master Mentalism Course by Ryan Clark. Apart from the main 269 pages course that includes detailed guides on mind reading, levitation, hypnosis, card tricks and more, you get 8 more mentalism related books (card tricks, hypnosis guides, David Blane’s secrets revelations, etc.) as a free bonus! Now please don’t think that I’m exaggerating right now, but in addition to all that you also get the access to the closed Mesmerize Member Club, which has insane video collections of party tricks, interviews with legendary mentalists and a lot more. Check out Master Mentalism here: http://mastermentalism.com

Here is the video of a detailed walkthrough of what to expect from Master Mentalism Course:

Disclosure: the owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Humans have been fascinated with the extra sensory perception. Some call it a superhuman gift while others put it to extreme intelligence. Well, mind reading as a part of mentalism magic is a subject that would take years to master and given the variability in human thoughts, there can be a high degree of inconsistency in the results. If you are trying to prove yourselves to be a mind reader, there are shortcuts to it. You can learn some of the easy mind reading tricks and perform them perfectly to blow some minds away. If this is what you are looking for, read on.

Before we get into the details about the mind reading tricks it is only fair that I talk about the “to do’s” while executing these tricks.

Easy mind reading tricks – To do’s

Pick the right person – If you are going to perform your mind reading trick in front of a larger audience and wish to involve someone from the crowd pick someone who is the average guy. Avoid individuals who are either too enthusiastic or too aloof. You would need someone who could just play his part well rather than try to be smarter than you.

Prepare the guy – Make the person you picked feel comfortable and closer to you. Add subtle hints of his or her tastes into the act, so that he or she enjoys doing it and gives the best.

Watch your audience – Be aware of the kind of audience you have, their age, clothing (fashion sense), technical fluency etc. This will go a long way in choosing the right person to answer a question and expecting them to give you the answer that you want.

Use non-verbal communication – Use your non-verbal communication to the core to put across your views confidently. Also, make a note of the body language of your audience to assess their mental state and use them to your benefit.

Be confident – You have to possess a winner’s swagger no matter what the situation is, if you plan to play these easy mind reading tricks. You may fail, but that shouldn’t stop you. Take your failure in your stride and put up a better effort the next time. Learn from your mistakes!

#1 Easy mind reading trick revealed – Card trick

This is a common card based mind reading trick to make the audience believe that you have read their mind. Present the viewer(s) a set of six cards, and ask them to choose one but not to reveal the card they’ve chosen. Ask them to remember the card that they’ve chosen.

Next, comes the moment to prove them that you’ve read their mind! Take back the set of 6 cards that you’ve displayed and replace them with a new set of 5 cards without the audience noticing it. Now it is time to proclaim to the audience that their card has been removed from the set.

This trick works by making the viewer focus on the one card that he or she is asked to remember. So, their mind would be busy in retaining the details of the selected card, and fail to notice that you have changed all the cards that were presented in the first place. I am sure the audience would be amazed by the “mind reading” you demonstrated.

#2 Easy mind reading trick revealed – the Grey elephant trick

This one among the easy mind reading tricks relies on the one-dimensional thought process of humans. This trick involves the following steps:

Pick a number from 1 to 10

Multiply the selected number by 9

If that number is of two digits, make it one by adding the digits.

Subtract one from the answer

With the result thus obtained, relate it to a letter in the alphabet like A=1, B=2, C=3, D=5 etc.

Think of a country whose first letter beings with the letter obtained as a result of the previous step.

Next, think of an animal that has the first letter of its name beginning with the second letter of that country.

Undoubtedly, the answer is going to be “Denmark” (the country that they had in mind).

#3 Easy mind reading trick revealed – Phone number gives your age

The next among the mind reading tricks has to do with the phone number or the mobile number. It uses this number to arrive at the age of the individual. Let me list out the steps:

Take the last digit of your phone number or the cellphone number

Multiply that number by 2

Add 5 to the result thus obtained

Multiply the result obtained in the previous step by 50

Add 1766 to the result of the previous step

Subtract your year of birth from the number obtained as the result of the previous step

You will get a three digit number. The first digit would be the last digit of the phone number (or cellphone number) you had in mind and the other two digits denotes your age.

#4 Easy mind reading trick revealed – Black magic

The last trick in the easy mind reading tricks is the “Black Magic”. Do not be alarmed when you hear the name. This trick can be played for a party or with a group of people. The trick is to name the items they have picked up from the room in your absence. The assistant that you appointed beforehand lists the items in a way that the items he says after a black object are the items picked up by the people in the group. Hence the name is “Black magic”.

Select an assistant from the group but no one else should know about this.

Ask the people (you can even make groups) to pick up an item once you have left the room.

When you return, ask your assistant to the list the items that were there in the room.

Each item that he says after the ‘signal object’ is picked up the person or groups in that room. There is a risk that the signal object should not be picked up by any group.

I hope you liked these mind reading tricks and found them easy. For more trick revelations as well as complete step-by-step guide on how to become a mentalist, check out Ryan Clark’s “Master Mentalism” course here: http://mastermentalism.com

There are quite a few mentalism tricks revealed out on the Internet, however only few of them deserve your attention. To make your life a little bit easier, I selected the best ones and put them all into this article. I also added a brief comments and explanations of the crucial things you have to know when performing. You have to note, that these are the basic mentalism tricks which are good if you are just starting out your becoming a mentalist journey. If you are about to get serious about it, you have to consider other means of mentalism education as well as learning advanced mentalism tricks.

Some of the mentalism tricks revealed below are card tricks. You might wonder why card tricks are doing on the mentalism portal. First of all, these tricks are not sleight of hands based. Second, these tricks are more mental kind of card tricks. And if you present them right, you can actually make your audience believe you have mental super powers. Third, these tricks are easy both to learn and perform. When you are starting out mentalism, it’s very important to feel how cool it is to perform and make other people to drop their jaw of WOW reaction on your tricks. These tricks are exactly what you need. And of course, be sure, there are a couple of purest mentalism tricks presented as well. Now let’s get right to it.

Mentalism trick revealed #1 – Four Cards To Pick

Here is a nice video of Jay Jay performing the trick with a beautiful girl. And you can witness what results and reaction it leads to:)

The revelation of this mentalism card trick is the following. After the girl has shuffled the card deck, JayJay took the deck to look for a random card to give to a spectator to make sure it is not marked in any way. While he was looking for a random card, he also checked the very bottom card, which was 6 of hearts in this case.

What happens next is he asks her for exactly the same card as the bottom one. She picks one, which obviously is a different one. JayJay looks at the card and names it as a second card to pick up, which was 7 of hearts. The same goes with the third card.

Then, at the end he picks one card by himself and it is the bottom one – 6 of hearts, which he knows where it is located. You can even see on the video that the last card he picked is the first card he named which is 6 of hearts. For this reason, just not to let your mentalism trick be revealed during performance, at the end of the routine, grab all four cards with your hands and put one by one onto the table in the order you have named them.

If you are going to do like JayJay did, someone may spot that the first card you named was the last one you picked. Another important thing is that the spectator has to remember the cards. Make a stress, ask him or her to remember the cards he or she was naming.

In this video you can see that the girl didn’t really remembered the cards and she just didn’t want to be Buzz Killington in this situation so she played along and believed the performer. In any case, this is one of my favourite mentalism card tricks ever since it’s so simple yet so damn impressive! Try it out and see yourself.

Mentalism Tricks Revealed #2 – a Triangle Inside a Circle

This trick is one of my favourite ones. It perfectly represents the mentalism school of magic and its classic mind reading effect. It was also well presented in the TV show “The Mentalist“. Let’s watch the video fragment first where the main character, Patrick Jane, performs it to his colleague.

Now let me walk you through all the details. First of all, this kind of mentalism tricks I would recommend to perform in the comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. In other words, you have to have attention and focus of your spectator on you.

The spectator and you have to stand not too far away and not too close, approx. 50-70 centimetres (~20-25 inches) apart face-to-face to each other. You have to be relaxed. Take a deep breath and intentionally make yourself chilled and relaxed. Then make a small pause, look into the eyes of the spectator, and with a little bit lower and calmer than usually voice ask the spectator the following:

“Are you ready?”, – wait for the positive answer of the spectator. Then ask:

“Feeling awake, mentally alert?”

After the nod, “yes” or another form of positive answer of the spectator, say some sort of approval, like “Perfect!” or “Excellent!” and move on to the next step. Although this part with all these questions is not mandatory for the trick itself, it does let’s say help to tune in the spectator and make him or her focus on what’s going on and follow your lead. So I do recommend you to include it into your performance. To make your life easier, you can basically repeat word for word what Patrick Jane is saying in the video. Later on, with a bit of practice, you will find your own words. As for now, just keep it simple.

Moving on to the “screen”. You continue in the same calm and relaxed way:

“I want you to imagine the screen between you and I”, and pause.

While you are saying the phrase and making a pause, you are drawing with your point fingers an imaginary rectangular screen in the air between the spectator and you, approximately equally away from both of you. The screen shouldn’t be too big. Roughly it should not be higher than the head of the spectator, not wider than his/her shoulders, and not lower than his/her chest. As I mentioned above, the screen is supposed to be rectangular with the long side placed horizontally. This gesture looks quite natural to the audience yet it’s crucial for our performance. With this gesture we are sort of setting the limits of the imagination of the spectator and making him or her focus on what is going on right inside of this mental screen. This way it will be easier for us to plant the mental seeds that we need – triangle and circle. So, as soon as you can see that the spectator has projected the screen in his/her mind, it´s time to move forward.

You say: “On that screen I want you to project a basic shape. Like a square, but not a
square.”

While saying that, you have to be making a certain gesture. Lift your hands into the air in front of you approximately at the level of your neck and put your thumbs, point and middle fingers as if you were holding a triangle of a size a bit narrower than your shoulders. You do not want to make it obvious, so make sure you do it naturally, relaxed and subtle. The main purpose of that is to push subconscious mind of the spectator to think of a triangle.

After your words “…but not a square”, while continuing “holding” the triangle, ask sincerely:

“Got it?”, just like in the video.

And after his/her positive answer, you say:

“Lock it in!”, and move to the next step.

You continue:

“Now I want you to project another shape and put that shape around the shape you already have.”

While saying “..another shape..” move your hands so, as if you were drawing a circle around the triangle that you were just holding. You don’t have to draw a full circle. Just make a gesture which would push the spectator to think of a circle.

Wait for a confirmation of the spectator, then say “Perfect!” and move on to the next one.

Now you have to play along as if something mysterious is happening. Make serious and concentrated face and say:

“Here is the fun part. Now concentrate, and project that onto the back of my mind. Look right here [point to the place between your eyebrows]. Open up your mind, and send it to me. ”

Make a pause, you can close your eyes if you want, breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly. Carry on in a mysterious way:

“Ok. Now I started to feel it.”

With a cheering intonation:

“It’s a triangle inside a circle!”

The job is done and it’s time to enjoy your success and the reaction of the spectator.

As I told you, this is one of my favourite mentalism tricks revealed and one of the main reasons for that is that you don’t need any props and requisite to perform it. This fact also puts the spectator in a position where he or she doesn’t know what to think and how to explain to him/herself what just happened. I do recommend you to practice it with yourself first and in front of the mirror to make sure your gestures look relaxed and natural.

Most probably you will get asked “How did you do that?!” In this case you can say something basic like: “Oh, it’s pretty simple. It’s one of the forms of mind reading. Maybe I’ll explain some other time”. And change the subject as if nothing has happened. You can also go for something more interesting, that would keep up the interest of the spectator and build up your reputation of a mentalist, like the guy in the video did: “Oh, that’s nothing! That’s just a calibration key to real mind reading. Now I have access to all your innermost thoughts.” But the best way is to think of something that would suits you personally.

Mentalism Trick Revealed #3 – The Easiest Card Trick Ever

Here is another mentalism card trick exposed by JayJay. I believe this is the easiest card trick ever and this is why. The only thing you have to do is to remember the bottom card. Then keep taking off few cards from the top until the spectator says stop. The secret of it is that the bottom card never change. So the “random” card the spectator remembers never is random.

Now when you know its exposure, it may seem for you that the secret is too obvious and anyone would notice that you are taking cards off the top and force to remember the bottom card. Don’t get discouraged by that. The simpler and straight forward trick is, the more effective results it delivers. Try it and you will see how smoothly it works.

Mentalism Trick Revealed #4 – Three of Diamonds

Let’s reveal another mentalism trick. Although you need a card to perform it, I would say this trick is one of those pure mind reading mentalism tricks that blow peoples mind away. See yourself.

As you can see, this one is very similar to “a Triangle inside a Circle” trick that was reviewed before. You can follow the major part of instructions I was talking in “a Triangle inside a Circle” trick, especially the preparation and the conclusion. However in this one it is better to perform it a bit faster, like Derren Brown does in the video. This way you keep the brain of the spectator busy, that makes him focused and concentrated on thinking of what kind of card it might be and not letting him or her think of the “strange” gestures you are doing.

So the revelation is pretty easy. By now you might already guessed the secret of it. The main points are the following:

You make a screen with your hands in the shape of diamonds – this makes a spectator think of diamonds

Use the words “little number”, “low” – this makes a spectator think of a small card in the range of 2-7

Put three fingers in the centre – this makes a spectator think of a 3.

Mentalism Trick Revealed #5 – Mind Exploding Trick

This one as well as the previous mentalism card tricks is really easy to perform. The major advantage of this trick is that it’s actually been performed by a spectator, and not a performer. In addition, it doesn’t need your presence at all, so you can perform it over the phone. Can you imagine when you call someone and you state that you can read his or her mind and tell what card he or she picked. Believe me, this trick is going to explode people’s mind.

I hope you enjoyed the mentalism tricks revealed in this article. I’m absolutely confident that you are going to impress your friends and family. For more trick revelations as well as a complete step-by-step guide on how to become a mentalist check out Ryan Clark’s “Master Mentalism” course here: http://mastermentalism.com

#1 What Is Mentalism?

Mentalism is a performing art, where its practitioner, known as a mentalist, fools the spectator by pretending that he or she has mental superpowers such as telepathy, divination, mediumship, clairvoyance, divination, mind control and few others. Although mentalists normally only pretend to have mental superpowers, it doesn’t mean they cannot actually obtain one and demonstrate it. However the secret of special abilities like mind reading or precognition is hidden in a deep knowledge of psychology and use of manipulation tricks, which can be acquired in the learning mentalism process.

#2 Body Language Does Matter

Body language (also known as non verbal communication) is the most important thing when it comes to learning mentalism. First, you have to be able to read the body language of the spectator. Don’t worry if you cannot do it right now. It is something anyone can learn. The ability of reading language of the body allows you, for example, to see if the person is happy, sad or angry, which is very important when you are performing a mind reading routine or playing a medium. Second, you have to follow your own body language. Remember that mentalism is a performing art. And how you say is far more important than what you say, unlike in some other types of arts. It’s all about how you present yourself and your routine.

#3 Presentation

This part is directly related to the body language. Once more, it is extremely important to know how to present yourself and your routine when you are performing. After you learn a mentalist trick, you have to master its presentation as well. The main point here is you have to make the spectator believe in what you are saying. Even if the spectator knows you well from when you were kids and he or she knows that you don’t really have any superpower, you have to be able to put a seed of doubt and make him or her think “what if…”.Amazon.com Widgets

#4 Misdirection

When you learn mentalism, don’t forget that it is mental type of magic. There are quite many mentalism tricks which you would perform as a regular card trick or any other magic routine that requires some props and sleight of hands. But when you look at misdirection as a control of attention (of the spectator or the audience), it makes even more sense and significance. You are the leader of your performance and you have to lead your spectator as well as the audience. Make them follow you, follow what you are saying, what you are doing and how you are acting. You have to control their attention and make it go the direction you want to.

#5 Mind Reading

Mind reading (also known as cold reading) is probably what mentalists are known for the most. However, I would like to mention real mind or even person reading. By that I mean what you can say about a person just observing him or her. It’s where body language knowledge comes into action. Apart from non verbal signals of the body, you have to pay attention to all kinds of details. The more details you can catch and read, the more information you can get about the person without even asking him or her anything at all.

#6 Learn Mentalism In Everyday Life

As I mentioned above, reading other person is the key to be a successful mentalist. And one of the best ways to improve it is just by actual practising. Observe other people – how they look, how they behave, what do they do, why, etc. Almost every person is doing it without even noticing it. But a lot of people are doing it to judge others and make him or herself feeling better (deep inside). Therefore it is important to observe consciously, trying to understand the being of the person, take his or her place, feel him or her. The more you do that, the more you are able to reading others.

For mentalism tricks revelations as well as complete step-by-step guide on how to become a mentalist, check out Ryan Clark’s “Master Mentalism” course here: http://mastermentalism.com

You may wonder what a mentalist is and how to become one. Mentalist is what you call those people who practice mentalism, the art of discerning the truth about an individual as well as many details about that individual’s personal life.

Many refer to mentalism as an activity incorporated by supernatural powers, however, how to become a mentalist is more about developing exceptional decoding and observational aptitude. Many professions from crime investigation field to magic performers make use of mentalist’s tricks along with the discipline of psychology for mental performance and behaviours.

What You Should Do in Your Everyday Life to Succeed in Mentalism

Before we get to the actual means on how to become a mentalist, I would like to mention few points on what to do in your day-to-day life – when you are going to work, sitting in the train or having a party at your place. Being a mentalist is more than just to know few tricks. It is a lifestyle. Although these things are not mandatory, I do recommend you to consider them:

Practice quick, well-read judgement. How to become a mentalist starts with good surveillance, therefore as a mentalist you can be quite confident of your judgement. You don’t need ESP to be excellent in decoding and profiling an individual. You’ll just need to be very keen on your scrutiny. Is the person really knowledgeable or just bragging with empty words? Does the person look into your eyes while talking to you? Is the person’s body fit or healthy looking? Is the person wearing a ring? Is the person sweating although the air con is on? Such observations will definitely lead you into that one instant educated finding about an individual.

In learning how to become a mentalist, one should practice the art of finding lies. You can catch the person if he’s lying or not based on the physical cues that indicate his being anxious, nervous or unsure. Observe where he stares when speaking, his level of perspiration, his way of speaking if he stutters or repeats the same phrase, and other physical signs that seem quite unusual for person like him.

To better enhance your mentalism tricks, start discovering new things with yourself first. Face the mirror and make a thorough observation of your facial reaction. How do your eyes look when you stir positive thoughts? How about when you are feeling pained, how does your face look like? When you’re scared do you tend to shut your eyes off? Then play along with your emotions. When you’re happy and excited do you clasp your hands together and feel the butterflies in your stomach? How does it manifest in your body? When you’re nervous what do you usually do with your hands? Do you bite your fingernails or chew your lips? Start studying yourself then expand to studying other people’s behaviour.

Learn the tricky questions. Becoming a mentalist, you should be able to ask the wise, tricky questions that are partly a statement and partly a question. You don’t obviously persuade a person to tell you something because all the more that he will keep the information from you. Express the vague questions or statement and let the person clear it out for himself. Say something like, “I’m quite torn being a performer or a teacher, what do you say about that?” or asks something like, “I never like the service in that cafe. You think the others share the same opinion too?”

Be a good listener. Most people listens to be able to deliver a good reply, but a mentalist listens and listens, then reads between the lines. A good mentalist is a good listener. Excellent listening skills open a new world for you and lead you to several links that can help you on how to become a mentalist. An individual’s personality and background are often hinted through the things that come out of his mouth. People tend to spill out more things about themselves than we recognize it. Good listening is the major key.

Where to Start

Where you should start your become-a-mentalist journey?

There are two options for you. One of the options is books on mentalism. It’s a solid way especially if you like studying and dig deep into the thick books. However it may take longer time for you to become mentalism as the second option. In our age of Internet and technology it’s way faster and more interesting to study from the videos. Is it not?!

So the other option is to get an online multimedia course. I know there is a lot of bullshit out there these days. And I went through it personally. When I was looking for a decent course, I had to see many of them. The good thing is that the most of the online courses offer you a 60-day-money-back guarantee with no commitment. So for the pure BS I could claim the refund.

It was a good experience, though. It helped me to go through different products and see what deserves the attention and actually works in terms of self-education and what does not. In the section below I am going to share with you the most efficient and complete course in my personal opinion. I tell you more, if I was the creator of that course, I would charge a lot more than that.

Master Mentalism Course

As I mentioned before, it’s not an easy task to find a decent course on the art of mentalism, especially if you are new to this and really want to know how to become a mentalist. If you did try to find it yourself, I bet you agree with me and feel the pain.

There was a moment when I was information starved in terms of mentalism and magic and I was looking for as much information as I could find. When I stumbled upon Master Mentalism, all I had to do was to submit my email and get the video tutorial for free. So I did and a bit later, the next day or so, I received an email with the first free tutorial.

I was impressed right there! First of all, the video was about something new and different from the stuff I could find on youtube. At the same time the revelation and tutorial was explained very detailed and easy to follow. It came with the subtitles in case for someone it is easier to read than to listen.

It captured my attention from the first video. Within the next couple of days I received the rest of the tutorials and I was totally on it.

And then, I received another email from Ryan Clark, a co-author of the course, where he invited me to try the major ‘how to become a mentalist’ course. I thought, if the free videos from him were that impressive, what should I expect from the paid complete mentalism and magic course?!

I didn’t have any doubts and got my copy. I didn’t hesitate, because Master Mentalism course purchase goes through ClickBank, which means I had 60-day-money-back guarantee. In other words if I didn’t like it or thought it didn’t worth the money (I still think he should charge more than that…), I had 2 full months to claim my money back with no any questions or explanation at all. I buy via ClickBank every now and then and I know how flawlessly it works. Besides, I’ve heard a lot of good opinions from guys who live outside USA and Europe, like India or Brasil, since they have certain difficulties with ordering books from Amazon.

Clickbank offers digital products only, so even if you live on a desert island, you can still order anything from there as long as you have Internet connection. Simply download your precious e-book or the entire course.

In the next few days I am going to add some addition insider information about what you are getting in the Master Mentalism. There is just so much stuff, that I think you wouldn’t believe me and decide that I am exaggerating if I mentioned all of it. So I have to think for few days which way to put it in the review before I publish it here. Meanwhile check out Ryan’s Master Mentalism course here: mastermentalism.com

To make it easier for you, here is Master Mentalism detailed review and walkthrough:

There are quite many pretty easy to learn mentalism tricks revealed. And here is one of them. This trick in particular was well presented in the TV series “The Mentalist“. So first watch the video fragment where the main character Patrick Jane performs the mentalism trick to his colleague. Then read through the text carefully. Then watch the video again, paying attention to the details. I have to point out, that the routine below is a good start if you are at the beginning of your journey of learning mentalism tricks.

Step 1 – Choosing a Moment

This mentalism trick is recommended to perform in the comfortable, relaxed and calm atmosphere. For example, I wouldn’t do it in the club where you have to shout into the ear of a person when speaking. I wouldn’t do it in the middle of the street or in a subway, where someone can push or distract you or the spectator (a person, who you are performing the trick to). However, complete isolation like being locked up in your room just two of you is not necessary either. You have to see by yourself when it is appropriate to perform.

Step 2 – Preparation

The spectator and you have to stand 50-70 centimetres (~20-25 inches) apart face-to-face to each other. You have to be relaxed. Take a deep breath and intentionally feel yourself chilled and relaxed. Then make a small pause, look into the eyes of the spectator, and with a little bit lower and calmer than usually voice ask the spectator the following:

“Are you ready?”, – wait for the positive answer of the spectator. Then ask:

“Feeling awake, mentally alert?”

After the nod, “yes” or another form of positive answer of the spectator, say some sort of approval, like “Perfect!” or “Excellent!” and move on to the next step.

Step 3 – The Screen

You continue in the same calm and relaxed way:

“I want you to imagine the screen between you and I”, and pause.

While you are saying the phrase and making a pause, you are drawing with your point fingers an imaginary rectangular screen in the air between the spectator and you, approximately equally away from both of you. The screen should not be too big. Roughly it should not be higher than the head of the spectator, not wider than his/her shoulders, and not lower than his/her chest. As I mentioned above, the screen is supposed to be rectangular with the long side placed horizontally.

As soon as you can see that the spectator has projected the screen in his/her mind, it´s time to move on to the next step.

Step 4 – A Triangle

You say: “On that screen I want you to project a basic shape. Like a square, but not a
square.”

While saying that, you have to be making a certain gesture. Lift your hands into the air in front of you approximately at the level of your neck and put your thumbs, point and middle fingers so, as if you were holding a triangle of a size a bit narrower than your shoulders. You do not want to make it obvious, so make sure you do it naturally, relaxed and subtle. The main purpose of that is to push subconscious mind of the spectator to think of a triangle.

After your words “…but not a square”, while continuing “holding” the triangle, ask sincerely:

“Is everything clear?” or just “Got it?”, like in the video.

And after his/her positive answer, you say:

“Lock it in!”, and move to the next step.

Step 5 – A Circle

You continue:

“Now I want you to project another shape and put that shape around the shape you already have.”

While saying “..another shape..” move your hands so, as if you were drawing a circle around the triangle that you were just holding. You don’t have to draw a full circle. Just make a gesture which would push the spectator to think of a circle.

Now you have to play along as if something mysterious was happening. Make serious and concentrated face and say:

“Here is the fun part. Now concentrate, and project that onto the back of my mind. Look right here [point to the place between your eyebrows]. Open up your mind, and send it to me. ”

Make a pause, you can close your eyes if you want, breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly. Carry on in a mysterious way:

“Ok. Now I started to feel it.”

With a cheering intonation:

“It’s a triangle inside a circle!”

The job is done and it’s time to enjoy your success and the reaction of the spectator.

Most probably you will get asked “How did you do that?!” In this case you can say something basic like: “Oh, it’s pretty simple. It’s one of the forms of mind reading. Maybe I’ll explain some other time”. And change the subject as if nothing has happened. You can also go for something more interesting, that would keep up the interest of the spectator and build up your reputation of a mentalist, like the guy in the video did: “Oh, that’s nothing! That’s just a calibration key to real mind reading. Now I have access to all your innermost thoughts.” But the best way is to think of something that would suits you personally.

If you want to learn few more tricks, then you can see this post. There you will find video tutorials of the three simple yet impressive mentalism card tricks.

In case if you are wondering where and how you can get deeper into the art of mentalism, then I recommend you to look through this post: How to Become a Mentalist. There you will find a brief guide and useful recommendations, like what books your should start with, what online course is the most effective and complete.

Everyone has his or her own reasons to learn mentalism tricks. Someone might get impressed by mind blowing tricks of David Blane or unbelievable mind reading tricks of Derren Brown and decided to become like one of them. Another might get inspired by the TV show “Mentalist”. Nevertheless, I would like to go a little bit deeper on the possible advantages and perks which you may get by mastering the art of mentalism.

#1 Be Always Ready

Unlike other types of magic, mentalism requires minimum of requisite to perform or do not require it at all. As soon as you master the performance, you are ready to act any time, any place, in any situation, would it be a club, workplace or the corner shop next to your house. You never know when you will need your skills of mentalist. Well, normally you do know, but from time to time you will have certain situations where your mental trick would be as a cheat code in the computer game.

#2 Mentalism Is Insane Hobby

Being a mentalist means being an artist. What I personally like in this hobby is that I can learn tricks and routines by myself. I don’t have to go anywhere. I don’t have to take classes. I can choose when, where and which way I want to practice. I don’t depend on anyone apart from myself. To find out in more details where to start your own become-a-mentalist journey, please refer to this article: How to Become a Mentalist. There you will find some useful information, what books are the best to start with and what online course to get.

#3 Mentalist as a Profession

You can start with mentalism tricks as a hobby and see how it goes. Of course you would have to practice for a while to feel it through and understand what it actually gives you, what feelings and emotions you experience doing it. You can earn some extra money even if you decide to keep it as a hobby. You can perform on different sort of parties like birthdays or bachelor’s parties, on some kind of social events where you can get paid for that, or even on the street in the public! And believe me, this way you can get pretty good earnings in addition to the salary you get at your full time work.

In case if you feel that it is something you would dedicate your life to, you definitely can make a business of your life out of it, which may bring you more than enough money for you and your family, or future family. And still there is wide range of possibilities. You can make your own shows, film videos, write books, do private lessons, found your school, or even theatre. In our age of the Internet it is really easy to get audience and popularity. You can start your own blog or better Youtube channel where you would show the evaluation of your mastery starting from your very first day of becoming a mentalist.

Having said all that, there are loads of different possibilities to earn as a mentalist. And the most beautiful part of it is that you would have absolute independence of anyone like bosses or parents, you would have as much free time as you like, and be the absolute and only owner of your own time and life.

#4 Social and Private Life You Can Only Imagine

I know by my personal experience that a lot of guys, even being good looking and intelligent, cannot approach a girl they like. We are not going deep on the reasons of that. Generally speaking, most of the guys think that they don’t look good enough to be attracted to a girl they like, or even if they know they look good, they don’t know what to say, how to approach and, which is the most important part, how to make a girl interested in them.

Now remember the last situation when you have seen a beautiful girl you wanted to approach but you haven’t because you didn’t know what to say or were afraid that she wouldn’t show mutual interest. And now imagine what would have happened if you had a couple of mentalist tricks up in your sleeve. You came up to her, asked for a minute of her attention and blew her mind far away. The girl is speechless of what she has just seen. The only person that exists at that moment to her is you. Once more – the only person in the whole world that exists to her at that moment is YOU. She is not interested in other guys around her. She forgot about her friend who is next to her. Now SHE is the one who wants to approach you, to speak to you, to make you interested in her. All you need to do is to go with a flow and play along. Sounds cool, huh? Believe me, it actually is cool.

Same thing is finding new friends. If you perform to a group of boys and girls at a party, every single one of them would want to be a friend of you. You will outrank any group leader whoever he or she is. You will be the centre of their attention. You will need just to choose who to be friends with.

#5 People Manipulation

It sounds quite negative or even inhumanely. But it is not exactly what I mean. Let me explain here. All our social interactions is some sort of manipulation. For example, a mother asks her kid to tidy up the house. Her kid refuses to do that. Then she says that he or she would get an ice-cream if does it. After which her kid is happy to tidy up the house and wash the dishes in addition. Someone would say it is motivation, another would say it is manipulation.

Here is another example. You are going to the shop to buy a new printer. You ask for an advice of a sales assistant. Sales assistant hides the drawbacks of a cheaper model, and make his argumentation around more expensive one, even though the technical characteristics are equal of both of them. He just wants you to buy the more expensive model which would bring him a bit higher commission. This is also manipulation.

We are not only observing manipulation in everyday life, but also manipulating by ourselves not even thinking of it! Along with mentalism tricks you learn to manipulate a person, his or her attention, emotions, way of thinking, feeling. Becoming a mentalist also means becoming a leader of any conversation or situation. Moreover, you get harder to be manipulated. You are being more aware and concerned about it even if another person is doing it unintentionally. It may sound too loud, but your life becomes clearer and easier for you. It’s like if you had superpower for real.